ABSTRACTS
KEEPING U P
WITH CHEMISTRY
Radium recovery. Canada's unique chemical industry. into the end of the test-tube. The air inlet should extend almost to the open end of the test-tube, but the gss inlet should end M. POCHON. Chem. & Met. Eng.. 44, 3 6 S 5 (July, 1937).Since the discovery of radium many plants for its extraction have several millimeters above the stopper. A clamp can be used to been erected and operated, yet essentially their chemical proc- hold it in position. This burner has been used successfully for esses follow closely the first procedure used hv the Curies in limestone ignitions. D. C. L. Producing natural soda ash in Washington. J. D. LINDSAY. 1898. In the Great Bear Lake deposits of Northern Canada metallic Chem. & Met. Eng., 45, 144-5 (Mar., 1938).-A~plant has been silver is found strongly associated with the radium-bearing pitch- installed at Wilson Creek, about one hundred miles west of blende. As a result the process is carried out in four steps: Soakane. Washinnton, for the nroduction of soda ash from a (1) the preparation of the minerals by roasting and milling, natural deposit. ?hedeposit is;n the form of a lake occupying (2) the recovery of the silver and the reduction of the radium thirteen acres lying hetween two rather high lava formations. into radium-barium sulfate, (3) finishing of the radium in the Drillings have been made to a depth of fifty feet and still show laboratory and (4) refining of the uranium salts. The separa- good values. The deposit is rather pure sodium carbonate mixed tion of the radium from the barium is effectedby fractional crys- with some insoluble silt. tallization of the water solution of radium and barium bromides. The process used dissolves the sodium carbonate from the Each crop of crystals is richer in radium and poorer in barium bed, and after separating any insoluble matter, crystallizes. than the liquor above it. The starting liquor has 400,000 parts dries, and granulates it into soda ash. J. W. H. of barium to one of radium. After twenty-three crystallizations Stream pollution becomes a problem for chemical engineers. STAFF. Chem. k Met. E ~ E 45,138-9 commercial radium bromide containing nine parts of radium to EDITORIAL ., ( M a r . , 1938).one part barium bromide is finally produced. Uranium oxide. nitrate. and acetate are also nroducts of this plant. J. W. H. Recent British research on motor spirit from tar. C. H. S. to make extensive investigations and frequently toinstall costl; TUPHOLME.Ind. Eng. Chem., News Ed., 16, 221-2 (1938).effluent disposal works in order to prevent the contamination Descriotion of exoerimental ~ l a n tconstructed bv the British of streams. Both the public and the industry benefits by the Fuel ~eseesearch~ o & to d study ihe hydrogenatioh ~ < ~ ~ ~ - t e m p e purer r a - water supply. ture tar. The raw material input is two hundred to four hundred Contamination of waterways is more frequently occasioned gallons per day and the ratio of hydrogen to oil is two hundred to by municipal sewage discharge than by industrial wastes, it five hundred cubic feet per gallon. About fifty per cent. by being estimated that the sewage of 40,000.000 people is discharged volume of the total feed material or one hundred oer cent. bv into streams without treatment. I n cases where the plant volume of the fresh tar treated is converted t o i n oil boiliui effluent goes into a municipal sewer system there are important below 200". This can be used for motor fuel. problems involved in the effect of the effluent on sewage disA. A. V. Weston-Levine Vitamin Chart. R. E. RBMINGTON.Ind. posal. Ene. Chem.. News Ed... 16.234-5 (1938).-This is a verv valuable Industries are now spending large sums for pretreatment of . . ch& givini name$, f ~ ~ n c l m nand s . S O U T C ~ Sof vitumin; A copy the effluent from their plants and feel municipaiities should do of the chart may be obtnintd from Dr. Roe E . R~mingron,ZPQ likewise with respect to sewage discharge. J. W. H. Cnlhoun Strcrt, Charlcxm, South Carolina, by forwarding ten High pressure hlast ANON. Ind. B d l . of Arthw D. Little, cents. A. A. V. Inc., 134, 1 (Mar., 1938).-It is pointed out here that the blast A simple hlast burner. F. C. FAIRAND J. J. YOUNG. Chcn- furnace might increase its capacity and improve its efficiency if &Analyst, 27, 1, 18 (Jan., 1938).-A 15-mm. test-tube is cut a reducing gas, such as surplus coke oven gas or producer gas, off near the bottom and then closed and discarded. The cut end were introduced a t some intermediate point of the furnace shaft is heated until it partially closes. Two pieces of 3-mm. glass to increase the reducing capacity of the gases in the reduction of tubing are inserted into a two-hole rubber stopper and inserted iron ore. G. 0.
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PROFESSIONAL
The manufachue of neon signs. W. J. CLANCY.Refit. New Eng. Assoc. Chem. Teachers. 39, 3 2 4 (Sept., 1937).Students display an interest in neon sign lighting, and a discussion is interesting in both ~ h v s i c sand chernistrv classes. Three kinds of inert Gses are used: neon, argon, and helium. In addition, mercury vapor is employed to get some of the color effects. The inert gases are shipped to the manufacturers in glass liter flasks fitted with a clever device to permit removal of the gas without contamination with air. Thecost of theinert gases, spectroscopid l y pure, is about $9.00 a liter a t atmospheric pressure. Mercury vapor is obtained by heating mercury over a cup-like electric furnace. The different colors are obtained by using different
combinations of colored glass tubing with different pases. A mixture of neon, argon, a i d mercury vapor gives a blue light in clear tubing, a white light in milk-white glass, and a green light in a vellow tubinn. Neon eives an oranee-red color in clear tuhine add a deep red-color in ahby-coloredglass tubing. A variety;? colors is possible by using different combinations of gases and colored glass tubing. The tubing used is commonly from 4 mm. to 10 mm. inside diameter and is received by the manufacturer in four-foot lengths. Glass blowers bend the glass to form the desired letters and weld the lengths af tubing together as needed. A high vacuum is secured within the tube and then a low pressure of the inert gas is admitted. Neon signs usually have a pressure
of 6 to 16 mm. of gas, while helium is used in the signs a t about 4 mm. pressure. A transformer is used to raise the voltage from
110 to a high voltage that varies from 2000 to 15.000. depending upon the length and internal diameter of the tubing. w. 0.B.
FOREIGN CHEMICAL AND EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS Canadian emanations. ANON. I d . Bull. of Arthur D. Italian chemical industry hvns toautarchy. FnlroRnL STAPF Chem @ I f r l Fnb , 45, 124 3 (>Far., 19SS,.-The inforrnat~or~ Little, Inc., 126, 3 4 (July, 1937).-In 1930 in the remote fastnesses of the Canadian Northwest. a orosnector. skirtine the f#,rthis arta:lr was ol,tnme#l through an interview with Dr Tng shores of Great Bear Lake, came G o n ' a Zcb deposit ofucopGiacomo Fsuser. famous chrmrcal rneincer of Italv. mangoo& . and lead, with sm&r amounts I n Italy the chemical industry is closely controlled and care- per. ~ o h a l t silver, fully guided by the State under the Central Corporative Commit- and iron, and transcending in importance 311 of thcse, pitchtlendc. tee. I t is forced to adopt a n autarchy, substituting domestic the much-suueht ur:mium-hearinc ore from which orerious raproducts for imports wherever possible. This greatly stimulates dium is recoGred. This event was epochal in its'sianificance research and technical development. Since so much of her gaso- to the Canadian chemical industry and to the works k a l e production of radium in the N c s \Vorld. Thrre years later active line must he imported, all gasoline is now mixed with twenty per cent. fuel alcohol, about ninety-eight per cent. of this alcohol work bcgan on the production of radium under the dircctiun of 1)r M I. I'onrhon who i i slid to be the lait survivor of the littk coming from sugar beets. Hydrogenation of fuels is also advanc- band of chemists associated in the hazardous and difficult work, ing rapidly. radium isolation, led by Madame Curie. Prior to the Canadian Fertilizers are being used in increasing amounts with gratifying production, the price of radium was controlled a t $70,000 per results. The nitrogen industry of the country supplies all of its gram by a Belgian company operating in the Belgian Congo. needs. There are plants for making both synthetic ammonia and The current market price is 530,000 per gram or approximately cyanamide. Fifty-five per cent. of the hydrogen needed for $850,000 per ounce avoirdupois. Production in Canada a t the synthesis is prepared by electrolysis, the rest from coke ovens. endof the third year of operation amounted to approximately one Potash is imported from Germany and phosphates are made from ounce avoirdupois of purified radium bromide, which represents the working of some three hundred tons of ore. I t is hoped to North African phosphate rock. While chamber installations are still in preponderance there is increase the yearly capacity to three ounces. From a ton of pitchblende the average yield of the purified radium bromide is an increasing trend toward making HzSO, by the contact method. equivalent to the "amount of salt one would sprinkle sparingly A large tonnage is made as a by-product of one of the big zinc on an egg". In the course of the separation and isolation of smelters. Italy has -plenty of -~ pyrites and brimstone. the radium a staff of trained chemists is required because of Production of aluminum is expected to reach 30,000 tons an- the Highly specialized technic required, together with the innually in the near future. J. W. H. creasing hazard to the operators. G. 0 .
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GENERAL Advances in botany. F. E. DENNY. Ind. Eng. Chcrn., News Ed., 16, 1, 3 4 (Jan. 10, 1938).-The following are of interest from the chemical viewpoint. Cobalt was shown to be an imoortant factor in control of certain shew diseases. Co content was 0.2 E E M in forage crops where sickness was produced while
a n interchange of line drawings, blueprint designs, tabulations, handwritten or typed manuscripts, advertisements, or printed matter. The Western Union is now using a new, dry facsimile receivine- oaoer . . develooed to record bv direct electrical action. yet is not sensitive to light or atmosphe& conditions, and is ready
lium; 0.667 P.P.M. produces the symptoms of the dire& Nitrogen fercilirers, Al. SO,,s and K t , o&comc thc discan. Cadifluwer hrowning. cracked stcms of cclers, and yellowing of alfdfa nrr due tu lwrm ddirienw. Soil oreanihrrlr aomctirnr% &b&.nts of their necessary M n o; Zn requ&ments. This can be overcome by sterilizing the soil or adding extra M n for oats or %nfor prachrs. \\jock on the induenee of wtamm 141and related eul,.;r:mct.r on plant growth arc reportcd Protcins previously ~sulstrdwhirh ooi.rind thr or,mrrliri of thr tobacco mosaic n r r c found to have g molecular &ei.r,ht of 10,000,000 while in healthy
Simultaneously, a beam bf light is focused on the revolving "$1inder, providing controlled illumination to &.absorbed in dark portions or reflected to the electric eye by light parts, the variations of intensity of this reflected light producing corresponding electrical impulses which are then amplified and sent over telegraph lines or by radio to the distant recorder. At the other end recording paper and a stylus or photographic paper and a beam of G. 0 . light trace the facsimile. America revisited. G. W. C. KAYE Nature, 141, 495-8 (Mar. 19, 1938).-During his recent trip to the United States and Canada, Dr. Kaye visited many great research centers, including the University of California, where "E. 0. Lawrence by his genius and oersistencv has develooed the cvclotron into the most ootent praciical contribution of reient times to the study of neutrons and irtitiaal radioactivity"; Lrland Stanf~mlInivcriity with its rwo-mtllion-volt tmnsformtr; lhr Calif.rnia Irldilul~.d ' l e d IIOIOPV. where he ohserved Dr C C I.auritirn'. work on wocrvoltr;b;e X-ray therapy, and the grinding of a 200-inch refleGor; and Chicago, where he attended the Fifth International Congress of Radiology. He states that the cyclotron has given "the biological worker and radiologist two powerful new tools, in the shape of artificial radioactive elements and neutrons. Some twentyfive outfits are a t present under construction the world over, six or seven in the States and two in England (Cambridge and Liverpool). . . Both in Berkeley and elsewhere the study of neutron theraov (on animals) is beine taken uo. Neutrons ionize in a man& "cry different from chat of gamma or X-rays, and are unique in being more abiorbnt,lc in hkly ti$rur t h m in hone If the prcscnr rlatms of sdrctivc reaction to turnur rissw are suhstantiated. it would seem thar ncutruns ma\. . .vrc,rnrlv h a w hieh therapeutic significance." M, E. w.-
out by the sp&trophotographk method &der varying degrees of illumination. Respiration seems to he unaffected by light. Radioactive phosphorus has been utilized to study rate of movement within the olant. I t moves about 23 cm. in fortv hours, moving nearly ad fast in the bark as in the wood and pitd. Certain cells when placed in deuterium oxideor heavy water show removal of watrr from the LYII C m S n marine alrar wrrc reported which had a pH of il.:I( and t o l d aridtty of 11.13 N in the "Ian1 iuirrs. CI and 50. contcnt wcrc hieh. only n trace of organic k i d s were present: so that figured is H ~ % ~twenty-one , U. C.L. per cent. of the plant was 1I2SOI Handwriting on the wire. .4ShN. I n d . Bull. of .lrllrur 1) Ltlrle. l n r . 134. ; I 4 >lac.. 1!3:161 -I'ac;irnilc mei.a~.rr and D ~ C t u r e s have be& flashed a&oss
